CRISIA JOY A.

DAVID
GRADE 11 HUMSS -2
Metaphor Definition-Metaphor is a figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated
but share some common characteristics. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or some
common characteristics.
Literary Metaphor Examples-Metaphors are used in all type of literature but not often to the degree they are used in
poetry because poems are meant to communicate complex images and feelings to the readers and metaphors often
state the comparisons most emotively. Here are some examples of metaphor from famous poems.
Example #1She is all states, and all princes, I.
John Donne, a metaphysical poet, was well-known for his abundant use of metaphors throughout his poetical works. In his well-known work The
Sun Rising, the speaker scolds the sun for waking him and his beloved. Among the most evocative metaphors in literature, he explains she is all
states, and all princes, I. This line demonstrates the speakers belief that he and his beloved are richer than all states, kingdoms, and rulers in the
entire world because of the love that they share.
Example #2Shall I Compare Thee to a summers Day,
William Shakespeare was the best exponent of the use of metaphors. His poetical works and dramas all make wide-ranging use of metaphors.
Sonnet 18,also known as Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day, is an extended metaphorbetween the love of the speaker and the fairness of
the summer season. He writes that thy eternal summer, here taken to mean the love of the subject, shall not fade.
Example #3Before high-pild books, in charactry / Hold like rich garners the full-ripened grain,
The great Romantic poet John Keats suffered great losses in his life the death of his father in an accident, and of his mother and brother through
tuberculosis.
When he began displaying signs of tuberculosis himself at the age of 22, he wrote When I Have Fears, a poem rich with metaphors concerning life
and death. In the line before high-pild books, in charactry / Hold like rich garners the full-ripened grain, he employs a double-metaphor. Writing
poetry is implicitly compared with reaping and sowing, and both these acts represent the emptiness of a life unfulfilled creatively.
Functions-From the above arguments, explanations and examples, we can easily infer the function of metaphors; both
in our daily lives and in a piece of literature. Using appropriate metaphors appeals directly to the senses of listeners or
readers, sharpening their imaginations to comprehend what is being communicated to them. Moreover, it gives a lifelike quality to our conversations and to the characters of the fiction or poetry. Metaphors are also ways of thinking,
offering the listeners and the readers fresh ways of examining ideas and viewing the world.

Metonymy Definition-It is a figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with
which it is closely associated. We can come across examples of metonymy both from literature and in everyday life.
Metonymy Examples from Literature
Example #1The given lines are from Shakespeares Julies Caesar Act I.
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
Mark Anthony uses ears to say that he wants the people present there to listen to him attentively. It is a metonymy
because the word ears replaces the concept of attention.
Example #2This line is from Margaret Mitchells novel Gone with the Wind.
Im mighty glad Georgia waited till after Christmas before it secedes or it would have ruined the Christmas parties.
Scarlett uses Georgia to point out everything that makes up the state: citizens, politician, government etc. It is a
metonymy extremely common in the modern world, where a name of a country or state refers to a whole nation and
its government. Thus, it renders brevity to the ideas.
Example #3These lines are taken from Out, Out by Robert Frost.

As he swung toward them holding up the hand

Half in appeal, but half as if to keep
The life from spilling
In these lines, the expression The life from spilling is a metonymy that refers to spilling of blood. It develops a link
between life and blood. The loss of too much blood means loss of life.
Example #4These lines are from the poem Yet Do I Marvel.
The little buried mole continues blind,
Why flesh that mirror Him must someday die,
Countee Cullen uses flesh to represent human and questions God why we have to die when we are created in His likeness.
Example #5These lines are from Lycidas written by John Milton.
But now my oat proceeds,
And listens to the herald of the sea
That came in Neptunes plea,
He asked the waves, and asked the felon winds,
What hard mishap hath doomed this gentle swain?
In the above-mentioned lines, John Milton uses oat for a musical instrument made out of an oak-stalk. Thus, oat represents the song that the poet
is composing next to the ocean.
Function of Metonymy
Generally, metonymy is used in developing literary symbolism i.e. it gives more profound meanings to otherwise
common ideas and objects. By using metonymy, texts exhibit deeper or hidden meanings and thus drawing readers
attention. In addition, the use of metonymy helps achieve conciseness. For instance, Rifles were guarding the gate
is more concise than The guards with rifles in their hands were guarding the gate.
Furthermore, metonymy, like other literary devices, is employed to add a poetic color to words to make them come to
life. The simple ordinary things are described in a creative way to insert this life factor to the literary works.

Alliteration Definition-Alliteration is derived from Latins Latira. It means letters of alphabet. It is a stylistic device
in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series.
Alliteration Examples in Literature
Example #1From Samuel Taylor Coleridges The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.
In the above lines we see alliteration (b, f and s) in the phrases breeze blew, foam flew, furrow followed, and silent sea.
Example #2From James Joyces The Dead
His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the
living and the dead.
We notice several instances of alliteration in the above mentioned prose work of James Joyce. Alliterations are with s and f in the phrases
swooned slowly and falling faintly.
Example #3From Maya Angelous I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Up the aisle, the moans and screams merged with the sickening smell of woolen black clothes worn in summer weather and green leaves wilting
over yellow flowers.
Maya gives us a striking example of alliteration in the above extract with the letters s and w. We notice that alliterative words are interrupted by
other non-alliterative words among them but the effect of alliteration remains the same. We immediately notice alliteration in the words screams,
sickening smell, summer, weather and wilting.
Example #4From William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet (prologue to Act 1)
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes;
A pair of star-crossd lovers take their life.
This is an example of alliteration with the f and l. in words forth, fatal, foes and loins, lovers, and life.

Example #5Percy Bysshe Shelleys (English Romantic poet) The Witch of Atlas is a famous poem that is full of examples of alliterations. Just a
few of them are wings of winds (line 175), sick soul to happy sleep (line 178), cells of crystal silence (line 156), Wisdoms wizard. . . wind. . .
will (lines 195-197), drained and dried ( line 227), lines of light (line 245), green and glowing (line 356), and crudded. . . cape of cloud
(lines 482-3).
Function of Alliteration
Alliteration has a very vital role in poetry and prose. It creates a musical effect in the text that enhances the pleasure
of reading a literary piece. It makes reading and recitation of the poems attractive and appealing; thus, making them
easier to learn by heart. Furthermore, it renders flow and beauty to a piece of writing.
In the marketing industry, as what we have already discussed, alliteration makes the brand names interesting and
easier to remember. This literary device is helpful in attracting customers and enhancing sales.
Definition of Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is one way a poet can create sounds in a poem. An onomatopoeia is a word that actually looks like the sound it makes, and we can
almost hear those sounds as we read.
Here are some words that are used as examples of onomatopoeia: slam, splash, bam, babble, warble, gurgle, mumble and belch. But there are
hundreds of such words!
Examples
We'll take a look at how onomatopoeia is actually used in poems. The first poem is 'The Bells,' by Edgar Allen Poe. Poe
begins the poem with a benign look at bells and how sweetly they can sound, but in Poe fashion, he moves to a darker,
more sinister role that bells play in life. Here is one stanza from the poem:
'How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear it fully knows,
By the twanging
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows;
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells, By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells,
Of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!'
Let's look at the onomatopoeia in the poem. When Poe uses words like, clash, clang, roar, jangling, clamor and clangor, we hear the discordant noise
of the bells, not a sweet sound. It reminds us of a fire alarm - something that jars the senses. This is the exact effect that Poe is hoping to produce.
Also, even though the word 'bells,' itself, is not usually considered onomatopoeia, by repeating it as he does, we hear the consistent ringing. By
choosing these types of words, Poe creates a dark, frightening mood.
For another example, here is a poem called 'Storm' by Olisha Starr that gives us another excellent example of onomatopoeia.
Idiom Definition
The term refers to a set expression or a phrase comprising two or more words. An interesting fact regarding the device
is that the expression is not interpreted literally. The phrase is understood as to mean something quite different from
what individual words of the phrase would imply. Alternatively, it can be said that the phrase is interpreted in a
figurative sense. Further, idioms vary in different cultures and countries.
Idiom Examples

Example #1Every cloud has its silver lining but it is sometimes a little difficult to get it to the mint.
The statement quoted above uses silver lining as an idiom which means some auspicious moment is lurking behind the cloud or the difficult time.
Example #2American idioms drive me up the hall!
Here, the word idioms is used as an idiom.
Example #3I worked the graveyard shift with old people, which was really demoralizing, because the old people didnt have a chance in hell of ever
getting out.
In the extract quoted above, graveyard shift is employed as an idiom.
Example #4
Kirk: If we play our cards right, we may be able to find out when those whales are being released.
Spock: How will playing cards help?
(Captain James T. Kirk and Spock in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, 1986)
Here, if we play our cards right means if we avail our opportunities rightly.
Example #5
Shakespeare is credited with coining more than 2,000 words, infusing thousands more existing ones with electrifying new meanings and forging
idioms that would last for centuries. A fools paradise, at one fell swoop, hearts content, in a pickle, send him packing, too much of a good
thing, the game is up, good riddance, love is blind, and a sorry sight, to name a few. (David Wolman, Righting the Mother Tongue: From Olde
English to Email, the Tangled Story of English Spelling. Harper, 2010.)
This passage highlights the collection of idioms used by Shakespeare in his works and these idioms are now used in everyday writing.
Example #6
Idioms vary in transparency: that is, whether their meaning can be derived from the literal meanings of the individual words. For example, make
up [ones] mind is rather transparent in suggesting the meaning reach a decision, while kick the bucket is far from transparent in representing the
meaning die. (Douglas Biber et al., Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Pearson, 2002)
The extract quoted above explains that idioms vary in their degree of transparency that is the extent to which an idiom reveals its true meaning varies.
Example #7
Modal idioms are idiosyncratic verbal formations which consist of more than one word and which have modal meanings that are not predictable
from the constituent parts (compare the non-modal idioms kick the bucket). Under this heading we include have got [to], had better/best, would
rather/sooner/as soon, and be [to].
The extract quoted above highlights the use and significance of modal idioms.
Functions of Idiom
Writers and public speakers use idioms generously. The purpose behind this vast use of idioms is to ornate their
language, make it richer and spicier and help them in conveying subtle meanings to their intended audience.
Not only do idioms help in making the language beautiful, they also make things better or worse through making the
expression good or bad. For example, there are several idioms that convey the death of a person in highly subtle
meanings and some do the same in very offensive terms. They are also said to be exact and more correct than the
literal words and sometimes a few words are enough to replace a full sentence. They
help the writer make his sense clearer than it is, so that he could convey maximum meanings through minimum words
and also keep the multiplicity of the meanings in the text intact.
It has also been seen that idioms not only convey subtle meanings but also convey a phenomenon that is not being
conveyed through normal and everyday language and also they keep the balance in the communication. Furthermore,
they provide textual coherence, so that the reader could be able to piece together a text that he has gone through and
extract meanings the writer has conveyed.